BESSEMER — Mike O'Lare openly admits basketball is in his blood.

It's not going to stop flowing anytime soon.

The 1996 Knoch graduate is in his 16th season as varsity girls basketball coach at Mohawk High School. He is in his 19th year as a health and physical education teacher there.

“I was only a so-so basketball player in high school,” O'Lare said. “Our teams at Knoch were always around .500. We never got to the playoffs.

“I knew I wasn't good enough to play college basketball. If I wanted to stay in the game, I needed to coach.”

So he went to work on it.

Immediately.

While a student at Slippery Rock University, O'Lare began his coaching career as an assistant under Dick Hartung at Butler County Community College.

“I remember driving the team van up to Pitt-Titusville when I was 19,” O'Lare said.

His brother, Zach O'Lare, played at BC3 one of the two years O'Lare coached there.

“He was one of those basketball junkies,” Hartung said of O'Lare. “He had to be in the gym. The only way he was going to extend that time was to become a coach.

“He was into it. He's always studied the game. I'm not surprised at what he's doing now. Not at all.”

What O'Lare is doing at Mohawk is winning — a lot.

He guided the Warriors to a 24-3 record last season, winning the program's first WPIAL Class 3A championship. Mohawk advanced to the PIAA quarterfinals for the first time before the state tournament was short-circuited by COVID-19.

Four of those starters are back this year. Mohawk is off to a 10-2 start this season.

“We've been able to build a consistent program there,” O'Lare said.

His record at Mohawk is 220-124. The Warriors have had only two losing seasons in the past 12 years, going 182-95 overall, 100-47 in section play during that time.

Mohawk has been to the WPIAL playoffs in each of the past nine seasons.

“There's been a lot of stability in that program,” O'Lare said. “I'm only the fifth head girls basketball coach there since 1970.

“I feel like I came into the job prepared. I worked hard to get to this point and the girls have bought in to what we're trying to do.”

Mohawk has won at least 16 games in eight of the past nine years.

Before taking the girls basketball position, O'Lare served as an assistant for the Warriors' boys team. Besides assisting Hartuing at BC3, he served as an assistant coach with Joe Lewandowski and the Butler High School boys basketball program. He's coached with (former BC3 head coach) Tony Grenek as well.

Grenek and Lewandowski are now head coaches of the Point Park University women's and men's basketball teams, respectively. Lewandowski's daughter, Dacia, plays on the North Catholic team that defeated Mohawk recently.

“Mike is a hard worker who's learned the game,” Lewandowski said. “I'm impressed by his team, how disciplined those girls are.

“Even when they were trailing (against North Catholic), they never lost their composure. They play together and that goes back to coaching.”

Hartung has a list of people he's coached or has coached with at BC3 who have gone on to their own success on the sidelines.

“Matt Driscoll (Florida Gulf Coast), Jeff Loughry (Karns City, Grove City), Tony Grenek, Joe Lewandowski, Jughead (Bobby McGraw at Slippery Rock University) ... We've had a bunch of them,” Hartung said. “Mike O'Lare is part of that group.

“We'd run basketball camps and most coaches just want to go through the motions, kind of just be there. These guys wanted to teach the drills, run the camp, they're into it. That's always been Mike O'Lare.”

Now he's reaping the benefits of such an attitude.

“I got started coaching when I was in college and I was lucky that way,” O'Lare said. “My passion still burns. I love doing this.”